News round up: Care home bills could double to £1,000 a week

Care home bills for older people will double to more than £1,000 a week over the next two decades, analysts warned yesterday. Families face growing burdens because residential and nursing home fees are going up faster than inflation.

The calculations published by Saga said average care home bills are just under £540 a week – £112,312 over the four years that make up the length of a typical stay in a home for an elderly person. In 20 years’ time that will have risen to £223,476 for a four-year stay – £1,074 a week, the company said.

Doctors and teachers to act as ‘informers’ to target violent offenders before they strike in controversial new ‘Minority Report’ plans

Doctors, teachers and social workers will be told to act as informers to identify potential violent offenders for monitoring by the police and other agencies.

Ministers hope that by spotting binge-drinkers, drug addicts and young gang members early before they commit serious crimes they can be placed on a national database and steered away from offending behaviour.

Hundreds more designated “alcohol zones” should be introduced to help combat drunkenness and antisocial behaviour on British streets, a Home Office minister said yesterday.

Vernon Coaker called on councils to make greater use of existing powers to ban the drinking of alcohol in public. An estimated 500 “designated alcohol zones” exist, where police have greater powers to confiscate drink.

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